Head of Passes
Off-Broadway at the Public Theatre


So often we go to the Theatre and the title leaves us in complete mystery.  We sometimes have to wait a long time for the meaning to be disclosed, and then there are those rare times, when you just can’t figure it out at all.  When I heard this one, I thought right away.  Here we go with the ambiguous title  but  I quickly learned  by opening my Playbill that Head of Passes was very simply  the name of  the town where our God fearing protagonist Shelah (Phylicia Rashad) resides.   For how long is the real question.

 
It’s a rainy and thunderous day in the nicely appointed home and former B&B of Shelah.  She is attended by  house staff Creaker (John Earl Jelks) and his son Crier (Kyle Beltran).   It’s Shelah’s Birthday, and even though she insists on no party, one is seemingly in the works.  Mae (Arnetta Walker), a friend,  is one of the first guests to arrive followed by Shelah’s  son’s Aubry  (Francois Battiste), and Spencer (J. Bernard Calloway).  Also arriving is Dr. Anderson (Robert Joy) who is not welcomed by Shelah, as he knows all about the terminal illness she is withholding from the family, and wants to tell them herself.  There is another sibling Cookie (Alana Arenas) and the boys are not happy to hear she is coming.  Cookie we learn was the product of an affair and was brought to the house as a baby by the now deceased husband.  She took her as her own and loved her but could not save her from scarred existence that was brought on by the abuse of her own father.   She has the telltale  twitch of drug abuse as she and Shelah have a tortured conversation where the demons come out.   Even though Cookie has gone bad Shelah wants to make things right for her, but the boys want their mother to set her loose.  Cookie leaves after Shelah tells her to take whatever she wants, but when the boys learn she took some jewelry they go nuts.  Aubry especially is on a mission to get the jewelry back.  One by one everyone leaves until it is just Shelah in a coughing fit while the  torrential rain, thunder. lightning, and roof leaks surround her.  She is talking to God, and convinced that her death will bring her 3 children back together.  If this was not enough drama, all hell breaks loose when the house collapses in around Shelah at the close of act I.

You might think this story is all gloom and doom, but there are plenty of light hearted, even comical moments.  That’s because black people are funny, even when they are dying.  Robert Joy, the only white cast member, delivered one of the funniest lines when he told everyone not to worry about the leaky roof, that no one was bound to show up for the party because black people don’t like rain.  Joy also gets plenty of laughs when he shows off his white boy dance moves.

In the second act we are relieved that Shelah is in fact alive.  I suppose there would be no need for a second act if she wasn’t.  The house is destroyed.  Creaker and Crier show up to rescue Shelah but do not get her out before the beans are spilled.  Aubrey is dead.  And in a series of  horrific events, one by one she learns that all of her children are gone. In a rage, she chases everyone out and begins her crazed conversation with God, re-living her life, and doubting everything she has done.  Phylicia Rashad delivers an emotionally charged performance in this dramatic play and modern day translation inspired by  the Book of Job.

This cast shines  as well as the set crumbles under the direction of Tina Landau.  Speaking of set, the Scenic Design (G.W. Mercier), Lighting (Jeff Croiter) and Sound (Rob Milburn and Michael Bodeen) contributors bring this production to a whole new level of splendor.  Head of Passes written by Tarell Alvin McCraney runs through April 24th.  For tickets and more information visit http://www.publictheater.org/en/Public-Theater-Season/Head-of-Passes/

and check out my discount page here on other ways to get tickets.  -ThisbroadSway 4/2/2016